May 14, 2008 Armed Forces Day This Saturday the nation will celebrate Armed Forces Day. The day was established on Aug. 31, 1949 by then Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson in recognition of the unification of the service branches under the Department of Defense. Armed Forces Day also brought national attention to the men and
May 14, 2008 Attention to mission I just returned from Europe, where American Airmen have flown with our Allies in peace and combat since the days of the Lafayette Escadrille during World War I. I toured Normandy, where courage and triumph still echo along D-Day's beaches, cliffs, and furrows. The trip reminded me how attention to
May 7, 2008 Honoring our mothers This Sunday, Americans will honor some of our most dedicated, selfless and often unsung heroes - our mothers. Be it breakfast in bed, a day at the spa or dinner at a nice restaurant, we all have different Mothers' Day traditions. No matter what gestures we make to show appreciation on Mothers' Day,
May 7, 2008 Are you leading or managing? Once as a junior officer at another base, I was privileged to sit in on an organization's off-site Air Force Smart Operations 21 discussion with several high ranking officers and enlisted servicemembers. All assembled agreed that some key improvements would better the lives of base members and
April 30, 2008 Contributions of America’s Airmen This past Monday, the Secretary of Defense delivered an address at Maxwell AFB to the students of our Air War College and Air Command and Staff College. Initial press coverage of his remarks misrepresented the tone and content of his address. Whereas some press reports characterized Secretary Gates
April 30, 2008 Rank: Farewell to the 375th The one thing that is constant in the Air Force is change. We change positions, roles, leadership, and locations so often that our sense of "normal" is that of change. So, as I prepare for another change and, in keeping with my "less is more" philosophy, I will take just a few lines to express my
April 23, 2008 Sexual Assault Awareness Month - April 2008 Our nation observes Sexual Assault Awareness Month each April and the theme for this year's campaign is "Prevent Sexual Assault: Ask! Act! Intervene!" Our recurring campaigns serve as reminders for the need for Airmen to reflect and evaluate how well we are progressing in this area of national and
April 23, 2008 Take a moment to thank a military child Out on the battlefield, unsung heroes are often those who accomplish the mission quietly and selflessly without complaint. Little to no recognition is given for their efforts. Back at home, there is another group of unsung heroes - that of military children. Military children like their parents in
April 23, 2008 Changing mindsets on sexual assault For every call I receive to respond to a sexual assault, there are probably five calls that never get made, but not on this particular Saturday morning. I was in my car returning from a training session when my duty cell began to ring that special ring to let me know the command post was on the
April 14, 2008 SECAF emphasizes attention to detail Recently the Department of Defense learned that four non-nuclear nose cones for a ballistic missile were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan in the fall of 2006. Regardless of the results of the ongoing investigation, this situation has identified important lessons for all of the DoD as we increasingly